I recently read the book Barking Up the Wrong Tree by Eric Barker. The author, Eric Barker, is a popular blogger who has spent the last decade sharing the latest science on how to live a successful life. After pouring through thousands of social science and behavioral science studies, Barker discovered that what we think leads to success is mostly wrong. For starters, most of us are focusing on one metric for success: money.

Key Takeaways:

Success isn’t solely measured by money; other factors contribute significantly to fulfillment and happiness.
Trading all your time for money isn’t a good trade-off in the long run.
Reflecting on how much money you made wouldn’t necessarily fill you with a feeling of success.
Focusing solely on making money won’t lead to lasting feelings of success.
To truly feel successful, it’s essential to consider a broader range of factors beyond financial wealth.

Some Quotes:

We spend too much time trying to be “good” when good is often merely average. To be great we must be different. And that doesn’t come from trying to follow society’s vision of what is best, because society doesn’t always know what it needs. More often being the best means just being the best version of you.
Mentoring a young person is four times more predictive of happiness than your health or how much money you make.
What’s the most important thing to remember when it comes to success? One word: alignment. Success is not the result of any singlequality; it’s about alignment between who you are and where you choose to be. The right skill in the right role. A good person surrounded byother good people